


I Found Love

by Georgie04



Category: Ackley Bridge (TV)
Genre: Angst, Crying, First Love, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Happy Ending, I love them so much, Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Soft Boys, comedy show, cory is so soft, i miss them, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-17 09:55:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16514114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Georgie04/pseuds/Georgie04
Summary: Cory has spent so long trying to get things back to how they used to be with Naveed, but maybe they need to go forwards instead.





	I Found Love

**Author's Note:**

> And I found love where it wasn't supposed to be, right in front of me, talk some sense to me. - I Found, by Amber Run.

It had taken a while. Like, _a while_ , a while. All of summer, actually, and a lot of avoiding awkward questions from Riz, who was still in the dark about what had gone on between the two of them, but slowly they had found their way back to being proper friends. And as Naveed looked out at the audience who were all clapping for him, he couldn't stop his eyes searching for Cory. He was at the back of the rec centre but he was on his feet, cheering louder than anyone, a genuine smile lighting his whole face up. He found himself thinking, not for the first time, that if all he and Cory were ever going to be was friends, then he was still the luckiest guy in all of Ackley. 

Naveed took a deep, shaking breath the second he stepped off stage. He had done countless shows over summer, Cory, Riz, Nas, and Missy attending every single one of them, but that didn't stop the anxiety he felt during every single performance. It was like he was always waiting for them to start laughing at _him_ , and not his jokes. He was constantly waiting for the day when _he_ would become the punchline. But, he thought as he leaned against the sink in the bathroom, it hadn't happened so far. And he figured that Cory would be more than willing to fight anyone who had a problem with Naveed. In fact, he already had gotten into a few _heated discussions_ with people who'd had a problem with Naveed coming out. No one had mentioned it again.

Naveed picked up a paper towel and began trying to wipe off the stage makeup his entire face was painted in, but the white face paint and the dark black liner around his eyes were stubborn and Naveed was mentally exhausted after his performance. Just as he reached up to begin scrubbing at his eyes, the bathroom door swung open, and none other than Cory Wilson sauntered into the room. He still had the same grin on his face from earlier and Naveed couldn't help but smile back as he turned around to face him. He looked _good_ , Naveed noted. Well, he always did, but there was something extra, something _more_ about him tonight, with his hair sticking up in all directions and a glimmer in his eyes. Yeah, Naveed was whipped, but could you blame him?

"Nav, lad, that was _sick_ ," Cory praised him, laughing as he walked towards Naveed.

"You think?" Naveed asked shyly, always seeking other people's approval and reassurance that he wasn't _utter_ shit.

"Nav," Cory began, resting his hands on Naveed's shoulders, "it was one of the best you've ever done."

And Naveed found himself thanking the heavens that his skin was dark enough to hide the blush that he could feel crawling up his neck and spreading across his cheeks. He smiled slightly and looked down, unable to maintain eye contact.

"Thanks," he mumbled in response, earning him a squeeze on the shoulders.

"I'm serious," Cory said as he stepped back, leaning casually against the wall. "Everyone loved it, _I_ loved it."

Naveed had to fight the smile that was threatening to take over his face.

"Wish I hadn't worn all this rubbish, though," Naveed confessed, turning back to the mirror and wiping at his cheek with his finger.

"Is it not coming off?" Cory barked out a laugh, revelling in Naveed's misfortune.

Naveed chuckled as he began scrubbing again, "Look!" he exclaimed, pointing at his face.

Cory shook his head, "It's dark out, no one will see, just come back to mine and you can get it off there. Might as well stay over an' all, save you trekking all the way back to yours," he paused and ran his hand through his hair, "I asked Riz as well but he can't tonight."

Naveed's breathing hitched and his smile dropped slightly. He and Cory were good again, _they were_ , but since that night he hadn't spent the night at Cory's without Riz being there as well. And he knew it made sense to spend the night at Cory's, it was way closer to the centre than Naveed's house, and it was late and dark outside, but the suggestion still made his heart race. He looked at Cory's reflection in the mirror, and Naveed could tell by the way that Cory was looking away and playing with his hands that the weight of the situation wasn't lost on him, either. He was just as aware as Naveed that this would be the first time they were properly alone since everything went to shit.

But they were good now, things were normal, and Naveed wasn't about to make that weird.

"Sure, okay, let me just grab my stuff," Naveed replied, getting a warm smile in response.

So, after collecting his things from backstage, Naveed and Cory set off for Cory's house. And if Naveed's hands were clammy and his heart was trying to jump out of his chest, well, Cory didn't need to know that now, did he?

*

So Cory was nervous. He couldn't help it. It hadn't gone amiss that he hadn't been alone in his house with Naveed since the night they, _y'know_ , so this was kind of a big deal, but he was trying really hard to _not_ make it a big deal. Naveed was chill with it, agreeing without any hesitation, so Cory was chill with it too. He was the one who offered for god's sake. It was going to be fine. It was.

They had moved on from that incident, let go of the past, and they were better friends because of it. Naveed didn't need to know that Cory absolutely _had not_ moved on from what happened between them, because that would just make things unnecessarily awkward. Plus it was all kind of Cory's fault anyway, so he had no right to complain. It was just difficult sometimes, knowing that he'd had Nav right where he wanted him, _literally_ , then let him slip through his fingers. But it was all okay. Naveed was his best friend.

"Are you hungry?" Cory asked the second his front door was locked behind them.

"Nah, I'm good thanks," Naveed replied, "I just wanna get this mess off my face."

Cory chuckled again, this time a little more forced. He was nervous, okay, he couldn't help it.

"Go and wash it off you muppet, I'll be up in a sec," Cory said, nodding towards the stairs to indicate that Naveed should head on up without him.

He made a show of opening and closing cupboard doors way louder than necessary, so Naveed wouldn't question why he wasn't following him straight upstairs. But in reality he just needed a few minutes to himself before facing the prospect of spending the night with Naveed. He felt sick. He was the one who'd fucked up, he was the one who'd hurt Naveed and then pushed him away, so he had no right to moan, he knew that, but it didn't make the situation any easier. He'd been terrified the day after they'd slept together, _god_ , the last time he'd felt that kind of fear he was watching his dad beat Jordan to a pulp. So his natural instinct was to abort mission, sleep with that girl (he'd forgotten her name in a haze of _Naveed Naveed Naveed_ ), and reaffirm that he was most definitely _not_ gay.

And he wasn't.

He was bi. Or pan, maybe.

And fuck if that didn't terrify him. 

Well, it did at first, not so much anymore, after watching Naveed literally come out on stage, then Nasreen announcing her relationship with Sam not long after. So he wasn't straight, and he was okay with that, he just wasn't sure if he was okay with people _knowing_ that, at least not yet. But that didn't change the fact that Naveed was still all he could think about. He found himself thinking about his best friend in every free moment he had, wishing he hadn't screwed things up so monumentally. But he had, and he wasn't about to fuck with Naveed again by confessing his feelings, especially after they'd spent months rebuilding their friendship. Naveed probably didn't even have feelings for him anymore, and Cory could hardly blame him for that. So he was going to pretend like everything was normal.

After spending an almost suspicious amount of time downstairs, he began to make his way up to his bedroom, his footsteps as heavy as his heart was feeling. The bathroom door was half closed but the light was on, so he figured Naveed was still working on clearing his face of any makeup. He shook his head and chuckled a little, it wasn't like it was the first time Nav had put too much on it and it wouldn't come off. In his bedroom he changed into a pair of joggers and stripped his t-shirt off (it was warm in the house, sue him). He fell backwards onto his bed, looking up at the ceiling and trying to calm his racing thoughts and his racing heart.

Five minutes later and Naveed still wasn't out of the bathroom. Cory, getting bored of waiting, left his room and knocked on the bathroom door.

"You decent?" he asked sarcastically.

"Depends on what you mean by _decent_ ," Naveed grumbled sleepily, opening the door.

Cory tried not to laugh, he really did, but it was impossible with Naveed looking like that. He'd managed to get most of the white paint off his face, but the black liner had just smudged, creating rings around his eyes that closely resembled a raccoon. Naveed rolled his eyes as Cory laughed, but it was hard for him to stay mad when Cory looked like that, with a wide smile and crinkles at the corners of his eyes from laughing so much.

Eventually, when Cory had regained his composure, he pushed Naveed back into the bathroom and followed him inside.

"Sit down," he ordered, and Naveed, too tired to argue, took a seat on the side of the bath.

Cory shook his head at the collection of damp, scrunched up toilet paper littered around the sink. For a guy who did this regularly, he thought Naveed would have been better at it. He opened up the bathroom cabinet and took out a small wash cloth, running it under warm water until it was soaked through. He then joined Naveed perching on the edge of the bath tub.

"Come here," he said quietly.

He started to wipe at the makeup around Naveed's tired eyes, but his head kept moving with the pressure every time he pressed down. Slowly, hesitantly, he reached his hand up and took hold of Naveed's chin to steady his head. He heard Nav's quick intake of breath and felt the blush tinge his ears pink. He wanted to stop immediately, it felt too personal, too intimate, but that would have just looked weird, would have made things awkward, so he kept a gentle hold on Naveed and continued to clean the makeup off.

He was close enough that he could feel Naveed's breath, see all the details on Naveed's face down to each individual eyelash. Nav's eyes were closed while he tried to clean off the makeup, giving Cory the opportunity to just admire him. He knew it was probably a little creepy, sitting there looking at his best friend in such a way, but god, Naveed was _so beautiful_ , it was hard not to stare at him. Cory was almost sad when he'd managed to clean off all the eyeliner, knowing that this was as close as he was ever going to get to Naveed after everything. 

"Are you done?" Naveed asked, slowly opening his eyes once Cory had stopped wiping at his face.

Cory's breath caught in his throat when Naveed's eyes met his. It was one thing being so close when Naveed's eyes were closed, but when he was looking at him like _that_ , Cory forgot how to breathe. And how to move as well, apparently, because instead of doing the normal thing and moving backwards he remained exactly where he was, mere inches away from Naveed's face.

"Yeah," he replied breathlessly.

"Thank you."

Shit. Cory was certain Naveed saw his eyes flicker to his lips as he spoke.

"No problem," he replied, his voice audibly shaking.

"Cory," Naveed whispered, and Cory almost fucking _moaned_.

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to kiss me?"

And Cory almost fucking died there and then. But he figured he had nothing to lose.

"Yes please," he practically whimpered in response.

"Then kiss me."

So he did. 

He closed the small gap between them and pressed his lips to Naveed's. He had been wanting to kiss him every day since they had slept together, had come close to just saying _fuck it_ and doing it so many times, but he'd always chickened out. But this, _god_ , this was even better than he had remembered. It wasn't anything special really, just their lips softly touching, not even moving, but Cory's entire body was on fire. And by the time he pulled away he was breathless, even from something so sweet and gentle. 

He opened his eyes to find Naveed already looking at him; his eyes were sleepy but alight with something that tugged at Cory's heart. He wanted to say something but he was worried that words would ruin it - he was bound to say something stupid and shatter this perfect moment. So instead he shifted his hand from Naveed's chin to his jaw, and pulled him in for another kiss. And this time he poured everything into it, all of the things he had been too afraid to say, all of the love he held for Naveed, because shit, he really fucking loved him, he found himself thinking as he knotted both of his hands into Naveed's hair.

It was like his brain had simultaneously switched off _and_ gone into overdrive, until Naveed slowly pulled back, his hands coming to rest on Cory's neck.

"Cory," he murmured, "what's wrong? You're crying."

Cory hadn't realised, hadn't felt the tears streaming down his cheeks until Naveed had mentioned it. He scrunched his eyes shut tightly to try and stop the tears from falling, but they didn't seem to want to. When Cory looked into Naveed's eyes it was impossible to ignore the worry in them, or the unshed tears starting to form, and all Cory could do was cry more. 

"What is it?" Naveed pleaded as he gently started to wipe away Cory's tears, catching them as they fell.

"I'm sorry, I'm so, _so_ sorry."

Naveed shook his head, "It's okay, Cory, look at me, it's okay."

Cory could see the sincerity written all over his face, and for the millionth time he realised he didn't deserve Naveed Haider, the entire _world_ didn't deserve him.

"I love you so much," Cory whispered.

He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against Naveed's, unable to look at him as he said those words, too afraid of rejection.

"I love you too."

The smile that blossomed on Cory's face when Naveed uttered those words was blinding, and Naveed caught his lips in another kiss.

When they eventually pulled apart they couldn't help but laugh.

"Not very romantic, huh?" Cory chuckled as he looked around the bathroom.

"It's perfect," Naveed said, not a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Cory felt his heart swell with so much love and affection. Naveed, who he'd hurt and pushed away two times too many, was still here, in love with him, in his _bathroom_ of all places. He couldn't believe his luck, and knew that he didn't deserve Naveed's love, but he was eternally grateful that he had it. He stood up, his back protesting at the shift in position after so long, then held out his hand to Naveed.

"Let's go to bed," Cory suggested, and Naveed smiled and took his hand, lacing their fingers together and squeezing tightly.

*

Later, when Naveed was fast asleep in his arms, Cory found himself admiring his boyfriend yet again. He'd barely been able to look away from him all night, afraid that if he took his eyes off Naveed for even a second that he would disappear in a puff of smoke. He looked so peaceful as he slept, curled into Cory with his head resting on Cory's chest and his arm swung over his waist. Cory couldn't believe his luck.

"Sleep," Naveed mumbled as he snuggled further into Cory's side.

He pressed a kiss onto the top of Naveed's head, pulled him close, then closed his eyes. Cory had experienced so many dreams like this, but this time it was real, and even better than he could have dreamed of.

"I love you," he whispered as he drifted off to sleep.

"I love you too."


End file.
